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Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 62

HEALTH COLUMN.

as the face, the hands, or the feet. Profuse sweating is very comon in cases of debility and in excessively stout persons. It occurs also in correction with various diseases, such as consumption, (night sweats), pneumonia, inflammatory rheumatism, and certain nervous disorders. Sud-. den emotion may cause increased perspiration. The opposite condition, a great diminution or absence of sweating (anhidrosis), is much rarer, and occurs usually in connection with some disease of the skin. Sometimes the character of the secretion is changed, and cases of black, blue, grey, yellow, or red sweating have been described. The treatment of profuse perspiration depends upon the cause. Tonics, cold or cool bathing, especially salt bathing, temperate exercise, and rubbing of the skin are useful in j:ases dependent upon general debility or obesity. Spraying or sponging the body with brandy and water, vinegar and water, or a solution of tannin or of boric acid is useful. Certain drugs which have a, tendency to diminish perspiration' are sometimes employed to reduce the night sweats of consumption, when these are so excessive as to weaken the already debilitated patient and to prevent much-nea,ded sleep.

Fruit as MedicineFruits are of great value in many forms of disease, says the Humanitarian, because of the acids which they contain. lliebe acids taken into the blood break up some of the compounds of waste substances which hare been formed, and thus give ii.se to an exaggerated excretion of these substances through the kidneys. In this way fruits are of . great advantage in the treatment of rheumatism, gout, gravel, and all tiiedifierent morbid -conditions which accompany the so-called uric acid diathesis. Remembering the interesting fact pointed out by Bouchard, that rheumatism is really a toxomai, resulting from the decomposition of food stuffs in a dilated or prolapsed stomach, Me must a!so attribute the oenefieial effects of a fruit diet in rheumatism and allied conditions to its value in suppressing the formation of poisonor.-; substances in the alimentary canal in tli2 manner already pointed oir\ Obesitj-, which is like rheumatism, a diathesis, may bs successfully treated hy a frnic dietary. "This is due not only to the fact that fruit is a natural food, and thus aids the system to establish normal tissue metamorphosis and a uoimal balance between the processes of assimilation and dissimilation, but also because it affords a very comfortable means of reducing the amount of nutriment material received to a minimum quantity. Fruit is chiefly water, iJie ai-iav.nt of nutriment material it con Lain, varying from 5 to 8 or 10 per cent, in most fruits, f.uch as dried grapes, prunes, dates, etc. The writer has F.uccsedecl in reducing excessive weight in most satisfactory manner by prescribing a diet consisting t.lmosc exclusively ■of grapes and apples, allowing only a small bit of ihoroagnly dry bread in connection with the fruit. In some cases the fruit may be allowed as often as three or four times a day, if necessary, to relieve an uncomfortable sensation of emptiness. In 'fevers, fruits, especially in the form of fruit juices, are a most convenient and certainly the most appropriate of ail food.

Children's Rashes. — These generally result from improper feeding, and a change' of diet to more~d.gestible food will often effect a cure. Ax, the same time, if a rash" suddenly appears in a child not subject to thtm, iso"late it from the other children, and keep it very carefully from exposure to damp and cold till you find it is nothing serious or infectious.. KTeLtlo rash often looks, like something much more serious. Eczema ot some sort or another is the commonest; skin trouble with children. The child usualh needs cod-liver oil, malt extract, or some specially .nutritious diet or tonic. If it is bad, and forms o cvust, especially in Ihe hair, zinc- ointment or vaseline arc" the besc outward applications. J3c sure fche child does not scratch. This only causes irritation and the spread of the mischief. Sulphur in some simple form is a good internal remedy.

Dangei oi Damp Sheets. — Few people pay sufficient attention to the proper airing of bed linen. Damp .-sheets are re- j sponsible for far more illnesses than isgenerally supposed. Every mistress of a house should, if possible, personally attend to the airing of household linen. It is at all times difficult to persuade servants that the airing of linen and clothes is not to bo j accomplished by simply hanging them on a clothes-horse near a fire. Unless each article is unfolded, and its position changed ! until all the. moisture has been drawn out of j it, the process of drying is not effected. Even if vapoiu rises from one part, it is reabsorbed Try another. A delicate person will be in the greatest danger of catching cold, and perhaps a severe attack of rheumatism, if the sheets have not been thoroughly dried, and nothing is uncomfortable than a cold, damp sheet. When travelling, carefully test hctel beds by placing the handglass between the sheets ior a few minutes. If, on removing it, there is the faintest trace of damp film on the glass, the sheet? are certainly not lit to sleep in, and if it is not possible to get them properly aired at once, it is wiser to remove them, and to slee}} between the blankets, than to run the risk of getting a severe cold. Perspiration. — Perspiration is almost peculiar to men, monkeys, and horses. Horses sweat all over the body, and so do human beings, but monkeys, it is said, sweat only on the hands, feet, and face. The use of perspiration is mainly to cool the body by its evaporation, although it is generally believed that waste materials are also excreted through the sweat glands when the action of the kidneys is interfered with. In animals that perspire bufc little, the cooling of tho bedy is effected by evaporation from the lungs, as we can see in the case of a panting dog. The amount of perspiration varies greatly, according to the temperature of the surrounding air, the condition of health, th" degree of exercise i taken, the amount of fluids imbibed, etc. Ihe average amount of perspiration is thought to be about two pints a day, but this is, of course, much increased in hot weather. In damp weather evaporation from tho skin is lessened, and so one seems to perspire more profusely than in dry weather ; but this is only apparent, for really transpiration is lessened when the atmosphere is charged with moisture. Hyperhiclrosis is the medical tei'in used to denote an abnormal increase in perspiration. This, increase may be general from the entire body, or confined to some particular jgarfc,